Always Forever
by sapphire-child
Summary: Someone dies and consequently receives the Order of Merlin, first class. Hermione POV


Spoilers: Not quite sure but I'll put down all five books anyway  
  
Summary: Somebody dies and they receive the Order of Merlin, first class.  
  
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. And finally, the song is With You by Linkin Park… \m/ rawk on LP!  
  
Author's Note: Yes somebody dies in this! If you don't like it then don't read it!  
  
Even though you're so close to me you're still so distant, and I can't bring you back it's true the way I feel was promised by your face the sound of your voice painted on my memories even if you're not with me I'm with you, you, now I see keeping everything inside with you…  
  
A young girl lay on the earthen floor, cradling him in her arms. Tears fell unnoticed down her face as she looked at his battered face sorrowfully. With his hair tousled and his face ghostly pale, it looked as though he was merely asleep.  
  
But it was not so. He was dead.  
  
Her best friend was dead.  
  
A few feet away, a boy was curled up and sobbing into his hands. Every few moments he would give a deep shuddering breath in a paroxysm of utter aguish. On the floor beside him was his wand.  
  
The girl shut her eyes against the hysterical tide that pressed in on her from all sides and images began to play through her head like somebody was looking through her memories at their own leisure.  
  
The sunlight silhouetted him as he flew high above her, his scarlet robes brilliant in the sun. A little boy stepped timidly up onto a platform and sat down on a stool, waiting to be sorted by a battered old wizards hat. His face became dominated by a wide smile and dancing eyes as he told a joke. The same two eyes fixed hers with a gaze that was all at once innocent and wise, full of sorrow and the terrible curse of understanding. He took her arm and pulled her away from danger, he would never let any harm come to her while he still lived.  
  
Her fingertips brushed his cheek gently. A tear had managed to escape him before he died and she wiped it away tenderly with a shaking hand. He was gone forever and that's all she had ever expected really, that one day he would be gone whether she liked it or not. It had come too soon though, she thought desperately. I wasn't ready to let him go, not yet, not so soon...  
  
The boy sitting on the floor pulled his hands away from his face and clambered to his feet, tears still sliding down his face.  
  
"Come on Hermione," he said, his voice cracking with emotion. "We have to get him back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore will know what to do then…"  
  
He trailed off as she shut her eyes again and burrowed into the side of the corpse.  
  
"Hermione," he tugged her off him. She uttered no more than a feeble whimper before he pulled her to her feet. He stooped and picked his wand up, performing a mobilicorpus charm on the body as he did so. They walked in silence, Hermione leaning heavily on him.  
  
Slowly the trees began to thin and then a sprawling castle came into view.  
  
As they drew closer to the front door, people began clustering at the windows and doors and peering out. Whispering to each other.  
  
"Hermione?" she looked up at the familiar voice of McGonagall, she was staring at the body with a sort of fascinated horror. "What's happened…?"  
  
Hermione swallowed but even so her voice cracked as she spoke.  
  
"He's dead. He killed Voldemort by sacrificing himself."  
  
McGonagall looked as thought someone had slapped her in her face.  
  
"No…he can't be…" she reached out a tentative hand as though to touch the floating corpse and then burst into tears.  
  
"He was so young," she sobbed. "So young."  
  
Teachers came rushing out from the school, most just stared at the sight.  
  
Hermione chanced a look at the body and then turned her head away.  
  
A trickle of blood ran from one corner of his mouth. His glasses flashed dully in the light, and his lightning bolt scar was flushed a deep red, standing out in sharp relief to the pale skin surrounding it.  
  
A gaggle of teachers not yet hysterically weeping, stepped forward and conjured a stretcher and a sheet to cover his body, which they brought inside the school. As they went inside, they passed Dumbledore who watched the stretcher go past silently. When they had gone past, he turned his gaze to Hermione.  
  
Tears ran down into his silvery beard as she watched. She was barely aware of the fresh tears coursing down her own face.  
  
"Voldemort is dead?"  
  
"Yes." She whispered, still clinging tightly to Ron.  
  
Dumbledore bowed his head. "I'm sorry. If I could have done anything I would have."  
  
Hermione didn't even nod, she knew this already. Dumbledore looked up again, his blue eyes still brimming over. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
There was no answer, but then he didn't expect one did he? Not now.  
  
"Here," Ron handed her a velvet box and an opened letter. "These are for you."  
  
Hermione didn't say a word, didn't thank him. She didn't move at all in fact, until he had left.  
  
First she unrolled the parchment and read it.  
  
To Mister Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger,  
  
Regarding Mister Harold James Potter's possessions, it has been decided that you shall both have the duty of sorting through them and doing as you wish with them. He left a note specifically saying that the following items be given thus:  
  
The deceased's Gringotts key - To Mister Arthur and Mrs. Molly Weasley  
  
The deceased's 'Marauders Map' - To Mister Remus J Lupin  
  
The deceased's invisibility cloak - To Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore  
  
The deceased's Firebolt broomstick - To Mister Ronald Weasley  
  
The deceased's pet owl 'Hedwig' - To Miss Hermione Granger  
  
Any medals the deceased may win or has won are not to be given to the deceased's remaining blood family.  
  
The deceased will be buried next to his parents in Godric's Hollow cemetery and a memorial erected for him at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
With deepest sympathy,  
  
Horatio Mortuder  
  
(It's Magic Law-firm Pty Ltd)  
  
Hermione put the letter down on the table and stared at it for a long time before opening the velvet box to reveal a silver medal.  
  
"Order of Merlin," it read in sparkling letters. "First Class."  
  
She picked it up and held it tightly in her hand for a moment; feeling the cool metal against her skin, before putting it back in its box and pocketing it.  
  
An image of a hand reaching out to take hers surfaced before her eyes. She felt tears prickling her eyes but she would not cry. She had cried enough for the gift, the curse of love already.  
  
But then a voice spoke to her, urgent and low…  
  
"Take my hand Hermione."  
  
She took the hand that was reaching blindly for hers.  
  
"You'll be all right. We'll go and get help for you Harry…"  
  
"Don't go. Please." His voice was insistent and pleading. His grip tightened on her hand. "It's cold. Stay with me, please Hermione." Tears welled in his eyes still as green as ever but clouded, confused, hurt…  
  
"You're fine, you aren't going to die."  
  
"Yes I am."  
  
"Don't talk rubbish Harry!"  
  
"You know I'm not lying. It can't be stopped." He paused and swallowed, his eyes growing dimmer with every passing moment. "I love you."  
  
"I know you do." The reality was finally setting in. It was true. He was going. "And I'll never forget, never..." A dry sob choked her.  
  
"You'll be in my heart forever," he whispered and then, as he breathed his last breath, he said his parting words. "Will I be in yours?"  
  
His breath faltered and stopped. She felt a sharp intake of breath beside her as Ron leant away from the body. And she looked down into his face, feeling the tears come, as she knew they would.  
  
"Always Harry. Always forever." 


End file.
